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he RE Mm PH WP A IM No. 49,744. Patented Sept. 5, 1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. W. FOARD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

PAPER AHOLDER.

Speoificationfnnnhag part ofLctters Patent No. 49,?44, dated Septemberb,1865.

the same, reference beinghad to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of one side or part, a, of my file. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the file completed and its parts joined together. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the part b, a portion thereof being shown in section on the line 00 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan of the file constructed after a modification of my invention, the locking device at one end being shown partly in section on the linear" of Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the part b of the file when made after said modification. Fig. 6 is a plan of a file to which I have applied a hinge.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention consists in a novel mode of constructingpaper-holders for holding files of newspapers and also documents and letters, the saine being composed of two strips of wood or other light material, which are secured to each other so as to embrace the files of papers between them by means of a screw-clamp of a peculiar construction.

The holderis made of two parts, aand b, the part a being simply provided with a fastening pin or pins, d, and, if thought necessary, with guide-pins 0 also, all projecting from the inner edge of the part a. The other part, b, is provided with a looking or clamping device, which is shown in the modification made upon the same principle. In the example shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the locking device is placed in the center of the length of the part b,in a slot or mortise,0, cut through the body thereof. Two metallic pins, h, are fixed transversely across the said mortise, being secured in the body of the part 1) parallel with its face.

g g are two metallic plates,of a size to fit easily within the mortise 0, being separated from each other, when placed therein, by the transverse pins h. The plates 9 are each grooved across their opposing faces at one end and opposite to each other, as shown at s, the diameter of the grooves being such as to fit thefastem ing-pin d. The'plates g are held together by means of a clamping-screw, j, which passes through both of them, engaging with a screw.

thread tapped in the inner plate, and thus drawing the plates toward each other.

"The operation of the parts above describedis as follows: The newspapers or documents which are to be held together having been pressed down upon the pin d, and upon the pins 0, when the latter are also used, until they have penetrated the papers, the said pin d is next to be inserted between the platesg in the place of their grooves s s, the position of the pin d in the part a and the place of the said grooves being adj usted so that they will articulate when the parts of the liolder are brought together, and the guiding-pins'c when such are used) pass into holes 2 made for them in the part b. When the two locking devices or setsof plates vg are employed the pins 0 are not needed. The screw f is now to be turned by a screw-driver, j, or other similar means, until the plates are drawn close enough together to clamp the fasteningpin d firmly between them. The screw-driverj is placed, when not in use, in a socket, t, pro vided for it in one of theends of the part b of the holder.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a modification of my invention in which the part a of the holder is provided with two fastening-pins and b with two locking devices. 5

g is a stationary nut, which is fitted in a mortise, 0, cut entirely through the part by In this example the mortise and nut are round; but they may be angular, so as to prevent the nut from being turnedin its place. A hole, It, is bored nearly through the part b parallel with its'fiat faces; and along the inside of said hole,

and at right angles thereto, a metallic pin, is,

is fixed, as shown in the figures. A hole, 12,

is bored in the end of the part b in such a position as to intersect both the hole t and the pin it beyond it.

f is a screw, whichis passed into the'hole p and through the fixed nut g, whose screw thread it is made to fit, its length being such as to reach the fastening-pin andpress and clamp it against the pin it. Each end of the part b is provided with the same clamping device.

It will be observed that this modification differs from the one shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 in clamping the fastening-pin d between the endof the screw and a fixed pin or surface, 7:, in-

' screw-driver, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3,

stead of clamping it between two plates or surfaces drawn together by means of the screw. Either mode of clamping the two parts of the holder may be used within thescope of my in vention, siuce they are the mechanical equiva lent of each other. The screw f here shown. is an ordinary thumb-screw, instead'of'a flatheaded screw .to be operated by means of a lhe latter maybe preferred in the case the proprietor of the holder desires to prevent readers and others from opening it and removing papers and'documents therefi cm, the screw-driver being carried in the pocket instead of being deposited in a socket, as at t' inFig. 2.

The holder may have a ring or hook on its end or outer edge,'whereby to suspend it in the usual manner.

Fig. 6 shows a modification 0f myinve'n'tion in which the upper end of the holder is pro- Vided "with a fastening exactly the same as in Figs. 4 and 5, the lower end having a hinge of peculiar construction, which, at the same time that it is a complete and perfect hinge, admits of separating the wood pieces in lines parallel to each other, thereby rendering the holder adaptable to increased ordirnin'ished thickness of paper within its embrace without strain to any part of it. It also shows a slight cutting away of the inner faces of the clamping-pieces at the lower end of the holder, intended to allow the paper to recede upward and laterally from pressure against the person or otherwise in the readers effort to bring the top of the paper close enough to his eye to be read.

. Theshanks of the hinge might have a wood screw thread, and be screwed in thelower wood piece Without a nut, thereby cheapening its cost. I thinkit best, however, to have a metallic nut. f a

I claim as new and desire to secure by'Letters Patent- V fl. A holder for newspapers and documents constructed and operated substantially as above described, the fastening pin or pins be ing clamped by the action of a screw.

2. I n,1ncwspaper holders or files, the combination of a hinge at one end with the fasteniug-pin at the other end, constructed and arranged substantially as above described.

J W. FOARD. Witnesses; v

H. H. McALLIs'rER, JOHN GROESBEGK. 

